Miles Covered (aka Archives)

Happy International Women’s Day!

Girls on the Run started back up this week. I am so excited to begin my 4th program with this amazing organization!

We tied yesterday’s lesson in with celebrating International Women’s Day- which is today! IWD has actually been celebrated since the early 1900’s and today is recognized in nearly 30 countries! I was so excited to see the Paris Marathon post about it this morning, recognizing that 10,000 women have signed up for this year’s race and declaring “women power!” Love it! 🙂 Next year, I’ll be one of those women racing through the streets of Paris= so excited!

To get the girls pumped up, we talked about a few women who have left an impact in history including Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Joan of Arc. They were all excited to share with us what they know about these amazing women. Here are a few fast facts I shared with them about women in America’s history:

First women’s-rights convention meets in Seneca Falls, New York, 1848

Women win Right to Vote: Women’s Suffrage 1920

Edith Wharton is the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, 1921

Amelia Earhart is the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane, 1928

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League becomes the first professional baseball league for female players, 1943

Katherine Switzer first woman to run Boston Marathon 1967

Janet Guthrie is the first woman to drive in the Indy 500, 1977

President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court, 1981

Joan Benoit wins the first women’s Olympic Marathon, 1984

Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, 2010

It was fun to talk about these great accomplishments and watch their eyes grow big as we talked about the most recent developments on this list, like running marathons and winning an Oscar. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was another point of interest with the group. After we chatted, we made cards for an important woman in our lives. It was fun to see the girls so excited! And I think this sets an excellent tone to carry forward throughout the program: “What Famous Firsts Will these Girls (on the Run) Accomplish?”